The subscription period for the retail offering of the UAE’s ADNOC Gas, which began with a valuation of between $47 billion and $50.8 billion, ends on Wednesday.
Once the IPO opened last Thursday, investors snapped up all the shares offered in the natural gas unit of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which is seeking to raise up to $2 billion from the 4 percent offering of ADNOC Gas.
AFP reported on Thursday that ADNOC Gas’ shares were sold out in the first hour of the IPO period. The source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to disclose the information, said: “The investors bought all the shares offered within an hour.”
The company announced its intention to offer a minority stake of 3.07 billion shares (4 percent) of the company for its gas processing, operation, and marketing operations for an initial public offering on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).
Read: ADNOC announces minority stake sale in ADNOC Gas on ADX
It announced in a statement on Thursday morning that it had set the price range for the offer shares “between 2.25 to 2.43 dirhams per share”, which means that the value of the company (which has about 77 billion shares) ranges between $47 billion and $50.8 billion.
The company said that the main investors, Abu Dhabi Pension Fund, Alpha Wave Ventures 2, IHC Capital Holding, Onim 1 Fund, and entities controlled by the holding company and the Emirates Investment Authority, together pledged about $850 million.
The company said that the final offering price is expected to be announced on March 3, with listing and trading to begin on March 13.
ADNOC Gas, which ADNOC created in November by combining its gas processing arm, and its LNG unit, is a large-scale company operating in all areas and aspects of the gas sector, with a production capacity of approximately 10 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day, that serves a wide range of local and international customers through a substantial portfolio of products.
It supplies around 60 percent of the UAE’s gas needs and exports natural gas and related products to a range of customers in more than 20 countries.
Of all the IPOs conducted in the UAE in recent years, ADNOC Gas’ listing is the largest and most strategic.
Over the past two years, ADNOC has listed Borouge Petrochemicals, Fertiglobe, and ADNOC Drilling. It also plans to include the supply and service unit. With a total market capitalization of around AED 215 billion, ADNOC Gas will almost double the value of its listed parent entities.
Reuters reported that ADNOC is increasing its focus on the gas market, as Europe seeks to replace all Russian energy imports by mid-2024 after gradually cutting supplies since Western sanctions were imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
For more on Adnoc, click here.
